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BurpoNiA. 187 





been no great harm in it; nevertheless Siegeshechia orientalis, 

 which recalls the name of one of his most furious antagonists, is a 

 very beautiful Composita ; and one of the largest trees in creation 

 18 dedicated to the memory of Adanson, a reformer who wished 

 to reform alone. Linnaeus knew neither envy nor hatred, and 

 showed himself satisfied with the share of esteem and of renown 

 which he had conquered. ' I have said elsewhere*, that on being 

 made acquainted with the injurious intentions with reference to 

 Bufibn atljributed to him by his enemies, he was indignant at the 

 , imputation. 



And what has happened to those who attacked Linnaeus ? Those, 

 who founded on these attacks a hope of fame, have been forgotten ; 

 while the opposition of those whose labours have deserved well of 

 posterity is no longer remembered; what they did for science 

 alone remains standing. Time, that great " justicer," puts every- 

 thing in its proper place, and leaves on the head of genius the 

 imperishable crown, from which the envious have laboured in vain 

 to tear away some of the jewels. . 



: BufTon certainly, glorious and honoured, could have no envy 

 ( ■ towards Linnaeus : but how much preferable would it have been, 



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could he have refrained from writing against that ingenious 

 reformer ! Not only was his logic at fault, but even his science. 

 JTor example, while blaming the construction of the class Mam^ 

 malia, now universally adopted, he ought not to have said that it 

 had been known since the time of Aristotle f that the Horse has 

 no mammae, and he ought not to have concluded from this that 

 the Horse is an exception among Mammalia J. 



T Let us go no farther ; if to blame is easy, let us not forget that 

 it has its dangerous side, and let us abstain from touching one of 

 the greatest of our national glories. Let us be satisfied with 

 having contributed to efiace the slight spot which had been thought 

 to tarnish the brilliancy of a justly venerated name, that of a man 

 who bv his eenius has deserved to obtain the right of citizenship 



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►imtry 



' Vie de Linne,' p. 287. 



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oirep (TVfifiaivei iwl t6v 'it^ou. " In the Class of SoUfeda the males have no 

 naamm®, except in some individuals which resemble thei^ mother: this is met 

 with among horses " (Aristotle, Hb. u. 8). Thijs Aristotle only says that the pre- 

 sence of mammse in the Class of SoUpe^ia not universal, which, although false. 



than wliat Bufio 



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I Buffou, Histoire NafureDc, 1 749» i. p- 38 (Sur la Mwu^re d'Asrbe I'HiB 









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